


Five Times River Song Learned About Rose Tyler (But Didn't Know It)

by yearn4themoon



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Bad Wolf, Character Study, F/M, Kissing, Romance, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yearn4themoon/pseuds/yearn4themoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one shot depicting how I envision River Song learning about Rose Tyler. Comes with Bonus Eleventh Doctor meeting Rose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times River Song Learned About Rose Tyler (But Didn't Know It)

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: This fic is not a River/Eleven friendly fic. This is an exploration of the part of River Song that was crazy in love with the Doctor, and how Eleven doesn't open up to his new companions at all. 
> 
> All aboard the train to Angstville. Sorry not sorry. 
> 
> Thanks again to my lovely friend and beta rudennotgingr for being patient with my it's/its switches.
> 
> EDIT: Sorry for all the formatting errors. Sometimes my word program doesn't like to play nice with others and takes out spaces that are supposed to be there. Ugh. Let me know if I missed any. Thanks!

The first time River Song learned of Rose Tyler (and didn't know it) also happened to be her first time sleeping on the TARDIS. Not with the Doctor mind you. She wasn't even sure he did that. Of course, she would find out. In a heartbeat. That daft alien drove her spare. More often than not, she was left with her panties soaking wet and no one but herself to put her out of her own misery. River was pretty sure that tonight would be the night though. After all, he had been staring at her a lot that day, when he thought she wasn't looking. And the flirting before they had stepped off the TARDIS. Dear sweet lords the _flirting!_ It was becoming as regular as breathing with her.  

He had looked quite distracted during and after their visit to New Earth with Amy and Rory. The Doctor didn't even seem interested in exploring the place, but Amy and Rory insisted they at least go to the New New New New New New New New New York Broadway revival of Once. The Doctor, after much begging from Amy, reluctantly agreed. When they got back to the ship, the Doctor excused himself. He left the console room mumbling something about needing to get his sleep for the month. But before he disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, she caught his eye. His stare was intense and his eyes were dark. Yes, tonight was definitely the night. She was sure of it.  
  
So, when her mother and father were off to bed, she began to search for the Time Lord. She knew he had a room somewhere on board. At first she was pretty sure the TARDIS was trying to lead her astray. His time ship had a funny way sometimes when it came to her pilot. It was almost as if she was trying to keep her from finding him.

“Are you jealous?” River asked the TARDIS, stopping to stroke one of its walls.

The TARDIS lights blinked furiously in response.  
  
“I promise I'll be good to him.”

The TARDIS didn't answer.  
  
“I'm not going to stop looking. So you might as well just tell me where he is.”

For a long minute nothing happened. But then the corridor she was in shifted ~~,~~ and two doors appeared, one across from the other, that weren't there before.

The one on the left was wooden and old, a dark stained wood with roses carved into the frame. Definitely not the Doctor's. The one on the right was made from the same type of wood but was plain compared to the door across from it. Surely this was the right door, she thought. The door that would lead her to the Doctor. To his bed. To their...

She grabbed the door handle and took a deep breath. She opened the door quickly and stepped inside. “Doctor, I'm here,” River announced hopefully. Instead, she found the room empty.  
  
She was pretty sure the bed that stood in the middle of the room was his. It was made from the same dark wood as the doors, and it had rumpled luxurious blue bedding on it. Curious, River stepped further in to the room. ~~.~~ As she wandered, she noticed a few things that were off about the place. For starters, she was pretty sure the Doctor didn't read any romance novels. But there was one, right on his nightstand, with an Apollo bar wrapper being used as a bookmark beside a book on Quantum Mechanics For The 51 st Century.

Under the bed were some hideously pink and fluffy bunny slippers. Surely _those_ weren't the Doctor's. Maybe she had the wrong room after all. But there, on the desk, across the room was the TARDIS part he had bought at the market on Intork just last week. She recognized it because he had almost bought one that was for a Type 38 TARDIS instead and wouldn't have been compatible. River swallowed hard as she surveyed the room closer. Here and there, scattered, were traces of someone else inhabiting this room with the Doctor. Some items looked like they hadn't had been touched in years and had a layer of dust on top, like the book. Other items, like a purple top, were folded very neatly in between some of his other shirts. Out of place as they were, they also looked like they belonged. This was why, she thought. The reason he never brought her in his room. Because he was with someone else. But it also looked like this person, whoever she was, hadn't been present in quite some time.

River felt her throat constrict from the reality of what she was seeing close in around her. She couldn't get out of his room fast enough. When she fled, she slammed the door behind her with a resounding thud. Outside, she could breathe again. Her heart was beating furiously as she fought back tears. She wouldn't cry. Not now.

She stayed there, in the corridor, collecting herself. She leaned against the heavy wooden door of the Doctor's room with her eyes shut, mentally trying to block out what she had just done. River Song was no snooper. Oh who was she kidding? She totally was. But usually it was to her advantage. That was when she heard _him._

His voice was muffled, but it was his. Her eyes shot open and looked across the hallway. The other door! He was inside that room, talking to someone. River crept quietly over and pressed her ear up to the wood to listen.

“I love you. I love you, I love you, I _love_ you. Why didn't I just say it? Why didn't I just open my mouth, and say the words? Clever Time Lord that is too stupid to say how he feels. Things would be so different if I...”

River backed away from the door then. He was talking to himself! Hope rose inside her once more as his monologue warmed her aching heart, making her forget all the things she had seen just moments before. River was certain the Doctor had been speaking about her. If only she had left her ear against the wood a moment longer, she would have known the truth. Instead, she grabbed the door handle, and made to enter, but she found it locked. River jiggled the handle on the door. It wouldn't budge. She pulled her hand back quickly. He had heard her. All was quiet in the room now. Feeling like a kid caught looking at Christmas presents; she ran to the end of the corridor and hid behind a strut. She had just made it to her hiding spot when the door to the room opened ~~,~~ and the Doctor peered out.  
  
“Who's there?”

River didn't dare breathe. She was nervous enough as it was. The Doctor was secretly professing his love for her after all! She knew how hard these kinds of things were for him. She didn't want to scare him off, so she stayed put and didn't reveal herself.

Sighing, the Doctor came out of the room, quickly shutting the door behind him before anyone could see what was inside. River took a chance and peeked at him from her hiding spot. What she saw was the Doctor staring longingly at the door. River guessed it was because he was coming to face reality, and he was nervous about opening up to her.

“Alright,” the Doctor said to the TARDIS. “You know what to do.”

The door disappeared.  
  
River thought that was the end of things, so she quickly snuck down the corridor and into another heading for her new room on the TARDIS where she hoped he would find her, completely oblivious to what the Doctor said next.

The Doctor placed his hand on the wall where the door once stood, hanging his head as he whispered, “I'll never forget you, Rose Tyler.”

 

 

*****

 

The second time River Song learned of Rose Tyler (but didn't know it), was at breakfast one morning after the events of the Silence. Every mug in the cabinet seemed to be dirty but one. It wasn't quite her taste (too many roses), and it was really too large for a simple cup of tea, but it would have to do. Even if it was a raunchy shade of pink. Really, where in the world did he get some of these things? As soon as she brought the mug to her lips to take a sip, it was snatched away from her; spilling some of her drink in the process.  
  
“Hey! That was mine!”

“I'll make you another,” the Doctor snipped.

“What has your knickers in a twist?”

“You using things that don't belong to you.”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was a claim to this mug. It was the only one clean.”

“No one uses this mug, River.”

“Well then, it's settled. It's mine now.” River held out her hand expectantly, waiting for the Doctor to return the mug to her. But instead a pained expression crossed his face and his hand opened up. The mug, tea and all, fell to the floor, breaking into thousands of pieces. His face never looked down at the mess it made. He just stood there, glaring at her, before he walked briskly away and down the corridor. Away from the mug, and away from River.

 

**

 

The third time River Song learned of Rose Tyler (but didn't know it), was when she was in the Library on the TARDIS. The Doctor had delayed taking her back to the Stormcage, so she could bring him tea while he tinkered on the TARDIS. He hoped she knew that wasn't the real reason. To tell the truth, he had become quite fond of her, even if she infuriated the hell out of him.  
  
She had been wandering around the library for hours; pouring through book after book, finding them all so fascinating. She was pretty sure she could spend days, weeks, maybe even years in here and never get bored. All these books held so much knowledge. She really just couldn't get enough. River didn't stick with any book too long, because she wanted to see everything the library had to offer. As she was browsing, River came down a darkened corner that she hadn't noticed before, and there on a pedestal sat a single book.

Wondering what it could be, she strode over and looked. The tome was thick with a leather cover.As she neared, she could just make out that it was covered in Gallifreyan script. Her eyes widened in surprise as she read the title, _A History of the Time War.  
  
_ Jackpot _,_ River thought. She picked up the heavy book and dusted it off. It looked like it hadn't been touched in centuries, the dust on top was so thick. She had no idea when in his time line this even happened for him. River blew on the cover, causing dust to fly everywhere. Coughing, she wiped the rest of it away with her hand. Eager to read what stories it held, she went to find a comfy spot to read.

As she settled onto a giant red chair, she opened the book, and for the next few hours, River read. She learned of the Daleks, of their creator Davros, the Cult of Skaro, Rassilon, President Romana and many other Time Lords. She learned of the Moment; what it was, and what it did. How it took the form of a wolf but with a human conscience. She skipped ahead anxious to see how it all ended. She skimmed through the other species involved, thoughthe Could Have Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres seemed especially interesting. She might have to come back to that. She flipped to the back of the book, and noticed that the few pages at the end were handwritten.

Odd, River thought. She looked closely and discovered the Doctor himself had added an entire 2 pages of story to the book. What she read sounded like something from an old earth fairy tale. He wrote of a girl, the Bad Wolf she was called, with the golden hair of a goddess. She took the heart of the TARDIS inside herself to end the Time War, once and for all. She could see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be. If the Doctor hadn't had taken the vortex from her she would have burned like the rest of his race. The story didn't say how he did it, only that it caused his regeneration.

It was all so beautiful and tragic. As River closed the book carefully, she wondered what ever became of the Bad Wolf. She wondered if she was even ever real or if she was simply a figment of the Doctor's imagination to help him cope with what he had done to his people.

 

*****

 

The fourth time River Song learned of Rose Tyler (but didn't know it), was when she accidentally met a certain Captain Jack Harkness. She was long since out of prison, and the Doctor and her had been married for a few years. Well, legally speaking. Anyway, the Doctor was not answering the phone on the TARDIS so she had decided to look for him the old fashioned way, via vortex manipulator. But the vortex manipulator she had had was now busted thanks to a herd of Paruvian Mangolets that decided her hair was the perfect thing to try and nest in. She was tired, she was dirty, and her hair...she didn't even want to know what they had done to her hair. On top of everything, she was furious. She was pretty sure that daft old alien husband of hers could care less if she lived or died sometimes. Sure there were moments of course: Jim the Fish, the Planet of the Rain Gods, but that's all they were...moments. She just hoped that she had landed somewhere where he was near so she could give him a piece of her mind.

River walked for a total of 2 hours before she found anything that resembled civilization. Paru wasn't a very populated planet, but from what she could gather from the large cellular looking tower looming in the distance, they had some form of communication. She walked into the small city, determined to find something to drink and eat. She was starved. She found what resembled a pub, and before she entered she tried to smooth down whatever was going on with the top of her head. She didn't want to frighten the locals after all.

The place was packed. It looked like everyone in the city had piled in to the place. The lights were dim (thank goodness), and no one seemed to notice that she had walked in. She strode up to the bar and immediately got the attention of the man behind it. Though, it was probably because her hair had begun to chirp.  
  
“Looks like you ran into the mangolets,” the man said with a smile.

“Did I? I hadn't noticed.” She pulled the small mangolet baby from her hair and handed it to the blue skinned alien sitting at the bar next to her. “Sorry, but I am starved. What does a girl have to do to get something to eat around here?”

“Sit.”

“Just sit?”

“Yes, you look like you could use a break. Dinner is on the house ma'am.” He placed what looked like a cup of orange juice in front of her and walked off, presumably to grab her some food.

River took a swig of the juice and winced, coughing on the liquid. “Tastes like beef,” she sputtered, before taking another long drink. She was thirsty after all. Beef or no beef, it was better than nothing.

She looked to the blue skinned man sitting next to her and smiled. A small burp escaped her. Apparently that was a sort of pick up line for Blue because he smiled widely at her and scooted closer.  
“Ummmm...you haven't happened to run into a man called the Doctor have you? I've been looking everywhere on this rock for him, and I can't seem to find him anywhere. He's my husband. Do you speak English, sir? I'm looking for the Doctor. Have you seen him?” It didn't matter how she said it, it didn't phase the blue man at all. He just kept smiling at her like the cat that just ate the mangolet. Speaking of the mangolet...what had he done with it? River didn't really want to think about it. She stood from the stool she had been sitting on, and backed slowly away from the blue skinned alien and straight into another. As she turned, she noticed he was more her 'type'.  
  
“Rose? Wow! You look... great! But what have you done with your hair? How many years has it been? Probably a lot from the looks of it. Oh come here, it's just so good to see you!” The man was now hugging River. Squeezing her really. And was that his hand traveling down to...he was cupping her bum! River had never slapped someone so hard in her life.

“Excuse you sir, but you have the _wrong_ girl.”

“Oh I'm sorry, it's been a few hundred years since I last saw my friend, and I figured...well...I don't know what I figured to tell you the truth. You said you're looking for the Doctor?”

He was suave. Sophisticated. American. And he wore a navy floor length coat that made him look military.

“Yes. He's my husband.”

The man lifted an eyebrow and quirked a smile as he looked her up and down. “THE Doctor? Married? To you? Noooooo....”

“ _Yes_.”

The man laughed. “Did it happen in an alternate universe?”

“That's besides the point.”

“Then you're not. Sorry babe. It's like the zip code rule. Plus there is only one girl that the Doctor would ever settle down with, and you just proved you aren't her.”  
  
River could feel the anger boiling in her veins. Who was this man? And why did he seem to think he knew the Doctor better than her? His own wife?  
  
“And who would that be?” River spat.

“I wouldn't be worrying about that right now if I were you.”

“And why is that?”

“One: Your ride just showed up. Two: Your hair is hatching something that is _not_ a mangolet.”

River's hands traveled up to her hair where a slimy substance was starting to drip down her forehead.

“I'm going to _kill_ him,” she mumbled as she turned and ran for the door, after seeing the TARDIS out the window of the establishment.

The man laughed loudly and called after her, “Hey! Tell him Jack says hello!”

 

*****

 

The fifth time River Song learned of Rose Tyler, she actually met her. It was weirdly cathartic actually. She came from nowhere, electrifying the air around her. River was sitting on a bench in the middle of London circa 2020 when she appeared. Of course, her appearance didn't surprise River in the least. Weirder things had happened to her. But it was what happened during the visit that changed everything.

The woman was blonde, her hair a golden halo that fell almost to her shoulders. She wore a blue leather jacket and black jeans that hugged her curves in all the right places. Dark circles were under her eyes, telling River it had been quite a while since this young woman had had a decent nights rest.

Her voice was quiet when she first spoke. “I got it wrong again, didn't I?”

“I'm sorry?” River asked the woman.

“I got the time wrong. Again. I don't know how much longer I can do this.” The woman shook her head sadly before sinking onto the bench beside her. “I _just_ want to be back. I _just_ want to find him. It's important that I find him before it's too late. And the longer it takes... ” The woman went silent, not finishing her thought.  
  
“Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help you,” River offered.

The blonde turned to face her. She looked defeated. Her face was so young, but her eyes...her eyes could rival the Doctor's. River could swear she could see the beginnings of a tear in the corner of her eye as well.

“You know him.” She tilted her head towards the TARDIS that was sitting behind them. “You're River Song. Aren't you?”  
  
“How do you know my name?”

“There are lots of things I know. Lots of things I saw. I saw everything, once upon a time. He tried to make me forget, but it didn't stick. All that is...all that was...”

“All that ever could be,” River finished realization dawning on her. “Bad Wolf. _You're_ the Bad Wolf.”

The woman smiled sadly. “It's been a long time since any one has called me that.”

The two sat in companionable silence for a few minutes looking out at the Thames before them. But it wasn't long before River noticed the woman's discomfort returning. She was clutching the seat of the bench so hard her knuckles were turning white. “He's inside you know.”

“I figured.”

“He probably knows you are here by now,” River offered.

“I _can't_.”

“Why not?”

“Because he's not _my_ Doctor. Is he?” The woman looked at River again, the tear River had seen earlier now made a wide track down her cheek. River could tell the woman was barely holding it together by this point. And the way she called him her Doctor...

River breathed in deeply. Years of confusion on her part were finally coming in to focus. She placed a gentle hand on the woman's and looked her straight in the eye. “He's been your Doctor the whole time, love.”

The woman sniffled, her voice cracking as she spoke. “How do you know?”

“I just do.” River smiled at her, patting her hand before reaching up and tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Now go to him. He needs you just as much as you need him.”

“But...but I can't stay.”

“Go anyway.”

The woman didn't budge at first, but then River was being hugged by this stranger who wasn't a stranger at all. This woman who had been silently haunting the halls of the TARDIS and the heart of her husband for years. And though River was only now realizing it, she had known all along.

“Thank you,” The woman whispered in her ear before tearing herself away, disappearing to the TARDIS behind her.  
  
It wasn't until days later, the woman long gone, that River got the nerve to ask.

“What was her name?”

The Doctor looked at River then, and for the first time ever, River actually _saw_ him.

“Her name was Rose.”    
  
  
  
  
BONUS:

**The One Time The Eleventh Incarnation Of The Doctor Met Rose Tyler (aka what happened when she left River's side)**

 

Rose's heart beat so hard she thought it was going to burst. Dimension hopping was a confusing process, and she never met any of the Doctor's friends, or the Doctor himself, in the right order. In the entire time that she had been using the canon, she had never met a Doctor who knew her, and if she did find one that did- he was dead. So the promise of a Doctor, a Doctor that remembered her, standing beyond those blue doors, made Rose more nervous than she ever remembered being.

She had come so far. She had been looking for years now, with the threat of terminating the project looming because The Darkness was getting worse. But Rose persevered. She knew if anyone could help save the multiverse- it was him.

And now, now she was closer to him than she had been in years, and she couldn't make her feet _move.  
_ Maybe she should just leave. Maybe it would hurt less. But the TARDIS doors opened of their own accord, and there beside the console, she saw the back of the Doctor tinkering, like he always did. He had changed suits again, but she didn't mind. She always thought it a little odd to wear the same thing all the time anyway. Her feet moved on their own, carrying her inside the time ship that she had dreamed about seeing again. When it registered how different the interior was, her breath hitched, causing the Doctor to still. Now that he sensed someone’s presence in the room with him, he turned ever so slightly, just enough for her to see his profile.

“Close the door, River. There's a draft.”

A strangled noise tried to rip its way from Rose's throat, but she stopped it. He had changed. Again. The face she had crossed universes to find, still out of her reach. “Doctor?” she asked, her voice timid and unsure.

Whatever it was that the Doctor was holding in that moment fell to the floor. The resulting clang echoed throughout the console room as he turned towards the sound of her voice.  
  
This version of him was impossibly skinnier, with brown floppy hair that looked like it belonged in some emo band. He dressed like her Maths teacher from Grade 7, but she didn't care. Because he was looking at her like she was the most impossible thing in the universe.

“Rose?”

Her name on his lips was the most beautiful thing she had heard since those last moments they had together on Bad Wolf Bay.

She gave him nervous a little wave. “Hello.”

In an instant she was in his arms and off the floor, being twirled around in the best hug she had had in years. The Doctor's laughter rang in her ears, as he spun her around. When her feet found the ground again, both his hands were on the sides of her face as he gazed at her in wonder. “Rose Tyler, you impossible thing.”

She was about to speak, but his lips crashed onto hers before she had the chance. After the moment of shock that this was really happening wore off, she greedily returned the kiss; sucking on his bottom lip and gliding her tongue across it, asking for entrance, which she was granted. The Doctor deepened the kiss, his hands roaming down the sides of her body to her hips where he held on tightly, his fingers digging in, as he dragged her closer to him. Rose snaked a hand into his hair, tugging on the strands, as she kissed him harder. The moan that escaped him as she did so, made her grin as she continued her ministrations. As much as she was enjoying the kissing, she wanted to see his face. Reluctantly, Rose pulled away so she could try and get a good look at this new Doctor.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck as the Doctor clung to her, desperate not to let her go. He rested his forehead against hers, his breath warm on her face as he asked the question, “How are you even here?”

When she told him about the cannon he stilled. This was Rose before she had found him again, Before Bad Wolf Bay Part Deux. He should have noticed from her tired eyes and her skinnier-than-usual frame, but he was too wrapped up in trying to make up for things left unsaid to notice at first.

“I'm sorry, Rose. I'm sorry. But you can't...you can't stay.”

“I know,” she said softly, as she looked into his sad blue eyes. “Paradoxes and all.”

“You need to keep going.”

“But I'm so tired,” she said painfully.

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut, and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead as he held her to him. “I know.”

Her grip on him tightened as she buried her face in his shoulder, breathing him in. When she looked at him once more her eyes were wet with tears. This time when he leaned in to kiss her is wasn't desperate at all. He took his time kissing her softly, committing the way her lips felt against his to memory. He felt it when she finally relaxed, and melted into the kiss. When their lips parted once more, she pulled away and out of his embrace. He caught her fingers and held on for dear life. “Not yet,” he begged.

“If I don't go now, I never will.”

“Then stay.” His profession hung in the air between them.

Rose looked at him longingly as she shook her head. “Don't.”

“Rose, there is something very important I need to tell you.”

“And you will.”

“But Rose...”  
  
“Doctor, _please._ Don't,” Rose pleaded with him.

“I never got to...”  
  
“ _Doctor,”_ Rose said sternly as she pulled the cannon from her pocket. It was already armed and ready for her next jump. Her fingers clutched the small circular pad, as she wrenched her hand away from him.

He saw her press the button and his hearts stopped as she disappeared from in front of his eyes. The 'I love you' he was trying to say died on his lips once more.

 


End file.
